Energy

The Prime Minister’s announcement to channel $2 billion over ten years to the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) falls drastically short of what is required to credibly tackle Australia’s emissions.

“The Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) will not bring down emissions in the majority of our economy and cannot credibly be considered a centrepiece climate policy,” says Richie Merzian, climate & energy program director at the Australia Institute.

“The ERF is just a warm-up act and we are still – 6 years on -- waiting for the main performer.

Millions of people in developing countries jumped straight from having no phone to having a mobile phone and so too will thousands of villages in developing countries jump from having no grid electricity to their own renewable energy. Leapfrogging old technologies can save billions.

New legal advice, sought by The Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program, suggests the Underwriting New Generation Investment Program is unconstitutional and lacks the legislative basis to proceed.

Key points

· Legal advice received from Fiona McLeod SC and Lindy Barrett on 15 February 2019 finds that Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor does not have constitutional authority over electricity nor the authority to fund projects under the Underwriting New Generation Investment Program, as currently proposed

The Australia Institute has long argued that the decline of fossil fuels in the electricity sector presents great opportunities for consumers, in terms of affordability, reliability and sustainability.

The traditional model of centralised generators with a monopoly on supply is dying. Information and computing technology is providing the capability for consumers to flip the switch and become ‘prosumers’, able to produce, store, trade and manage electricity.

So far in 2018, there have been 27 major breakdowns at gas and coal power stations in NSW. Every coal power station experienced at least one breakdown. The Tallawarra gas power station experienced three breakdowns. Aging plants Liddell and Vales Point experienced the most breakdowns.

NSW suffered 27 major breakdowns at gas and coal fired power-plants in 2018 – more than one a fortnight - removing hundreds of megawatts of energy from the grid suddenly and without warning.

The Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program has today released its NSW Gas & Coal Watch analysis of 2018, which tracks unscheduled breakdowns in gas and coal plants across the National Energy Market (NEM).

New research shows that gas and coal power plants broke down 135 times in 2018, breaking down at a rate of once every 2.7 days. While this could be expected of an aging coal fleet, the new analysis shows that Australia’s newest coal power plants (so-called “HELE” plants) are faring just as poorly.

The Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program has today released its Gas & Coal Watch 2018 review, which tracks unscheduled breakdowns in gas and coal plants across the National Energy Market (NEM).

In 2018 there were 135 major breakdowns at gas and coal power stations in the National Energy Market.While the oldest coal plants were responsible for a large proportion of the breakdowns, newer supercritical plants were also unreliable.There were three breakdowns at one of the newest gas plants. Victoria’s brown coal plants were the least reliable overall.

Most Australians want the State and Federal Governments to implement policies that would encourage more electric vehicles on Australian roads, according to new research from The Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program.

Most Australians want the State and Federal Governments to implement policies that would encourage more electric vehicles on Australian roads, according to new research from The Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program.

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The Australia Institute is the country’s most influential progressive think tank. We conduct research on a broad range of economic, social and environmental issues in order to inform public debate and bring greater accountability to the democratic process.